Stanford can thank Robert Woods for his memory lapse

In a game that had more ups and downs than a kid on a trampoline, it’s hard to pick a turning point. But USC wide receiver Robert Woods’ mental gaffe has to rank pretty high up there.

With the clock winding down, the game tied and SC driving into Stanford territory, Woods used up all nine seconds remaining on the clock trying to get out of bounds. The only thing was, Woods didn’t need to cross the world to find the sideline at all — the Trojans had two timeouts left.

As it was, the time slipped away and, after an official review, regulation was declared over, preventing USC from attempting what could have been the game-winning field goal. Stanford scored in all three overtime periods and forced a fumble on SC’s Curtis McNeal to end the game, 56-48.

After the game, both players and coaches from USC said they felt the officials did not recognize their attempt to call a timeout. But, unless Lane Kiffin has the power to stretch milliseconds into minutes, he has no one other than himself and Robert Woods to be disappointed in.